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Saturday, July 28, 2012

Now a days I have almost stopped cooking. Since my parents are here, I am having a great time with them. On top of that I am on the luxury of home (mum) –made food. Feels like my bachelor days, where I never cared about food or any household matters. I know this won’t last long but enjoying every bits of it till it lasts.

Even though I am not cooking much, that doesn’t stop me from chatting about food and recipes. I was having a chat with few fellow foodies and while discussing salmon recipes, it kind of struck me of making salmon with pesto. It was bit late for me to get salmon that day but I was not ready to let go of cooking salmon with pesto. After some time I compromised with the situation and decided to do the same experiment with chicken. Because that was the only thing available in my freezer at that point.

I took the chicken out, thawed it for some time and then marinated the chicken pieces in the red pesto I bought a week ago in the Foodie Festival. Used a generous amount as this is the only thing I was adding to the chicken. I had tried this pesto with pasta last week, so I knew I don't need to add anything else other than salt. Kept the chicken in the fridge for overnight but I guess this step is not necessary, if you are in a hurry then 4-5 hrs. of marination would do.

Before placing in the pre-heated oven I seasoned the meat and cooked for 45 –50 minutes in 180 degree C. Once done, rest it for 5 minutes and then serve. I served it with sliced red onion, goes very well as a starter. This is the easiest preparation I have done for chicken, which turns out to be really good.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Last weekend was a foodie festival weekend for me. All of us went to the food festival happening at the harbourside. The festival started on Friday the 13th and went on till Sunday. We choose to go on Sunday as weather wise that was the most promising one.

We went around 3 pm, it was windy but sunny and lots people were enjoying food and drink in the festival. Our tickets were sponsored by theNatural selection foods, so started looking for their stall. I didn't have to look long but waited for some time to get a glimpse of their products and to meet the sponsors of our tickets as there were many customers choosing their favourite products.

When I finally got a chance to meet them and try their products, I was amazed. Emma, my sponsor was kind enough to give me couple of bags of their products for us to try. I loved the dried berries sweetened by apple juice the most, however because I like hot food I loved the candid ginger too. But don't worry, if you have missed it, all these are available in Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Believe it or not I came up with this dessert idea because of my toddler. I got some apples from the market as my baby loves fruits. But when I made a puree of those apples with couple of apricots, the puree turned out to be too sour for him. May be it was the apple I choose but anyhow I made melon puree for his lunch but didn't throw the apple and apricot mix away.

Once he was fed and asleep I was left with that puree. Can’t drink it, as it was too sour and can’t throw it as well. The colour as you can see is very beautiful too. So I went back in the kitchen and this is what I ended up with. It tasted as good as it looks.

I added some sugar (as per your taste you can adjust the sweetness) and some corn flour to say 150 ml milk (normal temperature) and then placed it on the hob and started heating the mixture. You can also use soymilk instead of cow milk if you want this recipe to be dairy-free. Brought it to boil and at some point I could see the mixture is getting thicker. You can add few drops of vanilla essence at this point, but that’s optional. I poured it in to the dessert glasses and left it in the fridge to cool and set.

Next step, I took that fruit puree in to a saucepan and placed it on the hob. Added 3 tbsp of sugar in it. You can add more or less sugar depending upon your taste and the sourness of the fruits. Boiled it for couple of minutes then added one full sachet of gelatine powder. Kept stirring so that it gets mixed in the puree well. Took it off the hob and let it cool for 5 minutes. Now took those set milk glasses and pour this jelly mix on top of it, spoon by spoon. Don’t pour it in a continuous flow then it will melt or cut through your set milk. Fill the glasses and return them in the fridge for couple of hours to set. Serve chilled.

Note: Don't start making your jelly before the milk has set. else your jelly will be ready but the milk in the bottom won’t set. Also the jelly wont be very wobbly, as the fruit puree will of thicker consistency compared to the normal jelly liquid. It will be more like jam.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

I am fairly regular in twitter and most social networking sites. So when Octopus Publishing Group tweeted a photo and asked if anyone can guess the source, I instantly knew what I was looking at. With full confidence I replied and guess what, now I own a copy of it and you are about to read my thoughts on it.

It was a bit longer wait then usual as I was eagerly waiting for it to arrive. Not only because it is a baking book but the thrill to have a book before it is released in to the market is amazing. Also this is a book I was expecting to have lots of baked dessert recipes which it does.

“Tart it up!” is Eric Lanlard’s latest book on baking. BTW, I also own his first book “Home Bake” and I must say that is a fabulous book and a must have if you are into baking.

This is his second book of baking, mostly involving some kind of pastry, the book is clearly divided in to two parts - Savoury and Sweet, and contains nearly hundred recipes including the accompaniments. The book starts off with the recipe of shortcrust pastry, which is probably the most used one in rest of the recipes listed in the book.

The book is a box of treasures. As I flip through the pages I was realizing that how much baking I will be doing soon. Its difficult to choose from as each and every one is equally tempting. To add to that There are mouth-watering photographs which will not let you close the book.

This is not a book for people who are on diet or planning to loose weight. Also I feel this is a book from where you will cook for special occasions and for someone you care for. If you plan to do aJulie and Julia project with this book and eat them all, you better keep your hospital number in speed dial. The amount of butter used in the pastry which is the base for any of the recipe in the book is just a fraction. for the filling there is similar amount of butter, double cream and sugar. Having said that, all these ingredients are key to the divine taste of the dishes.This book is definitely for the celebrations and the dinner parties you will be hosting in future and not for everyday cooking.

This is a beautifully pictured by Kate Whitaker with step by step recipe given. Along with the textual description, some of the recipes have steps shown in pictures, which I thought is a huge plus point from readers perspective.

Tart it up! will be released on the market from tomorrow, and you can buy it online here at Amazon. P.S. All the pictures in this blog post are clicked by me from the book.